Tuesday, 2 October 2012

Bringing up baby: 29 Sept 2012

Today was a good day.

Atilla let us sleep in again. When I arrived in the
kitchen with him, it was 7.30am.

He was fairly whiny, and snuffly. He had amazing snot all
day. I had to be quick with the hanky to catch 'em. Not always successful, but
he looked clean enough afterwards after each sneeze. He also relapsed into
coughing again.

Highlights from today, in no particular order:

Atilla accepting that 'horse' happens after breakfast,
and that he has to occupy himself with other things while mum gets breakfast
together. He read the Mog the Forgetful Cat book. It was so sweet to hear him
point out the highlights. Dog. Cat. Egg. Tea.

His overnight MCN without booster was fairly heavy, and
not soaking. Bonus: one less disposable to buy!

He had a prune at breakfast. I try to give him one each
breakfast, but he doesn't always favour it. Today he did.

Cafe Drawing 1

Second breakfast at a cafe, complete with cinnamon fluffy
for Atilla. We retrieved a cafe jigsaw and activity book to occupy him. He
preferred to sit on my lap and make requests for me to draw "cat"
"flower" "apple" "man" "moon" "fish".

At Sylvia Park, he sought out the black
horse - logo of The National Bank. I'll indulge him in this for as long as the
logo exists. It will be phased out over the next two years.

DVD and cd shopping at The Warehouse, complete with
Atilla pushing the kiddie trolley. He wasn't so good at steering this lightweight
size, and tended to careen and crash. Sometimes he became tired and wanted to
take a break by sitting in the trolley. Luckily he can fit in there. Just. He
is growing so tall!

Atilla is very
good at shopping. He pushes the trolley down the aisle, perusing the shelves.
When he sees something which attracts his attention - red stripey beans on a
seed package - he methodically denuded the shelf into his trolley. After the
fact, I'm sure he was playing 'Shopping'. At the time I firmly said to him 'we
weren't buying that' and put the items away when he had his back turned. We
repeated this for a few items, such as for Bruno Mars yellow album, and
Poltergeist DVD.

I did get some
mustard seed, on the principle every kid ought to know something about agriculture.
Later, we occupied ourselves seeding some dampened cotton wool, while Daddy
made dinner.

We each got
some DVDs we wanted, and some we will share. Me, I'm happy with the deluxe
edition of The Princess Bride, and Blazing Saddles. Atilla got more Thomas the
Tank Engine - Daddy stipulated it must have more than 7 episodes per disc and
longer than 56 min running time. I'm sharing Shaun the Sheep with Atilla. Daddy
is sharing live action Scooby Doo with Atilla.

I didn't find the whisking utensil I wanted, but we did
get a milk frother. We can give Atilla fluffies at home! We tried it later. He
wasn't so keen now it was a home-thing.

I limited Atilla's tv screen-time, and was backed up by
Daddy. We played as a family instead. Balloon games - hit the balloon with a
rolled-up paper, throw the balloon and kick it. Triking games - Atilla rids his
'bike', invites Mummy to sit in front of him, Mummy sits behind him where there
is room, Mummy falls off and rolls around in agony on the floor as I'd got a sudden
cramp in both my thigh joints trying to accommodate myself on the trike, Atilla
laughs and joins in falling off and rolling around yelling. Later, another
triking game is Crash - Atilla rides his trike forcefully at the couch and
crashes, he turns the trike around and rides the opposite way to crash into the
other side (into large boxes, or a wooden chair).

I found the 4-week-long missing Rocking Horse jigsaw
piece! Atilla was so happy, he had it in his hand for ever so long.

Atilla playing "Orse". In his idiosyncratic
gait, he galloped around the house like a horse (with Rocking Horse firmly
gripped in his fist). Did Aunty teach him to gallop? I didn't. He truly
'galloped' in a canter - his left leg
always started, and his right leg always behind. Under the hanging laundry,
around the dining table, through the kitchen, in the hallway, through the
living room, around the dining table, under the laundry...

Atilla's moon (c) Atilla 2012

Atilla drew a moon! We were mucking about in the master
bedroom, and found a paper and pen. Atilla wanted me to help him draw his
requests - cat, dog, flower. After a bit he took over, scribbled a bit, and
then proudly showed Daddy "cat!" "dog!" "moon!"

We enforced the rule of Not Taking Daddy's stuff away in
the bedroom. Wailing and gnashing of teeth. Eventually he was distracted, and
went downstairs in a reasonable mood for his bath. I wish I remembered how we
did that. I think it involved his bit of paper, and then his deciding he'd
rather bring his touchy-feely Peter Rabbit book downstairs.

Atilla fitted the Rocking Horse piece perfectly into the
jigsaw! Daddy was doubtful Atiila would remember it, but I wasn't. Atilla has a
very good memory, and he always knew the missing piece was a horse and so he
was reminded of it each night he played.

Atilla deciding he would rather go to his bedtime
routine, than stay to play downstairs.

And just now, Atilla woke up from his evening sleep,
brought two books to come to my bed, wailed as he was stymied by the closed
door, and then allowing himself to be soothed back to sleep in his own bed -
still clutching his books.

Now I'm going to put an extra layer on him and hope he
doesn't wake during the process. Second try.